Last time, we learned to pray with the right perspective, according to God’s personality and promises so that we could see God’s sovereign hand at work in our lives. As we venture into Exodus 33, following the Israelites’ disastrous decisions and Moses’ powerful prayer, this week we’ll discover God’s favor after failure.
Failure is something we don’t like to talk about, but the truth is we all fail at something at some point in our lives. Failure is part of the journey of accomplishment, but when we fail to process failures the right way, we are robbed of our ability to dream, to believe God, and to go after the passions in our hearts. Failure, if allowed, can cover us in shame and embarrassment, leading to isolation and living a life short of our God-given potential.
In Exodus, we saw miracle after miracle and then watched the Israelites fail catastrophically at the one thing they had promised to do – trust God and follow His commands. Despite their failure, God tells Moses they can go on into the promised land, but He is not going to go with them. At this very moment Moses has the audacity to ask for a favor, “Lord you have told me that you know me by name and that I have found favor with you, if that is really the case, I need favor right now” (Exodus 33:12-13). What is favor? Simply, favor is the unique grace of God upon your life, in detail, favor is when God fixes His gaze upon you, takes a keen interest in you, and gives you special attention and benefits.
Rather than allow failure to define or limit the nation of Israel, Moses does the opposite and asks God for favor. Some of us have messed up and may be struggling to pick ourselves up from our failure, but the good news is the Word of God says favor exists and is available to us on the other side of failure. In the midst of failure, may we ask God for favor in our lives, knowing it exists and is available to us, just as He promises in His Word.